Altria hopes pot is the key to help it grow beyond its stagnant cigarette business

CNN (US)Friday, December 7, 2018

Tobacco giant Altira is investing $1.8 billion in Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. That will give Altria a 45% stake in the company, with an option for Altria to increase its stake to 55% over the next five years. Reports of an Altria-Cronos deal first surfaced earlier this week. The decision by Altria to go ahead with an investment in Cronos shows that Altria is serious about investing in marijuana as a new growth area as sales of traditional cigarettes slow. Altria's stock has fallen nearly 25% this year and the company is expected to report revenue growth of only about 1% this year and in 2019.

The committee’s recommendations for its international scheduling are still expected to go up for a vote in the CND in March

Marijuana Moment (US)Friday, December 7, 2018

The World Health Organization (WHO) was expected to make recommendations about the international legal status of marijuana, which reform advocates hoped would include a call to deschedule the plant and free up member countries to pursue legalization. But in a surprise twist, a representative from the organization announced that WHO would be temporarily withholding the results of its cannabis assessment, even as it released recommendations on an opioid painkiller and synthetic cannabinoids. The marijuana recommendations are now expected to come out in January. Earlier this year, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) released a pre-review of marijuana that included several positive, evidentiary findings.

Several other companies around the world are pushing into the marijuana sector

BBC News (UK)Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, is in talks with a Canadian cannabis producer over a potential investment in the firm. Canada's Cronos Group confirmed the discussions but said it had not yet reached an agreement. It follows reports that Altria was in talks to acquire Cronos as it moves to diversify from traditional smokers. Canada legalised recreational cannabis in October - the second country in the world to do so. Cronos confirmed in a statement "it is engaged in discussions concerning a potential investment by Altria Group Inc. in Cronos Group." Several other companies around the world are pushing into the marijuana sector.

The market price of cannabis plummets with legalization

RAND Blog (US)Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Legalization is not a simple yes-or-no decision, and its consequences for health, public safety, and social equity will be shaped by choices about production, prices, and the enforcement of regulations. As the next round of states debate legalization, they would do well to contemplate allowing state governments to control the wholesale prices and linking the price of cannabis to its potency. Low prices mean low wages for workers and potential bankruptcy for all but the most efficient producers, with craft-scale production driven out by industrial farming and “mom and pop” retailing driven out by sellers with big budgets for marketing. This price drop is a problem for those who want the legal cannabis market to provide economic opportunities for the individuals and communities that have been disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition.

It just causes overcrowded prisons, where erstwhile drug users are recruited to become dealers upon their release

The Jakarta Post (Indonesia)Tuesday, December 4, 2018

The government’s focus on jailing drug users while providing only little funding to help users get healthy again is not effective in combating drug abuse in Indonesia and amounts to “a waste of money”, a study finds. The policy study from Rumah Cemara, a community-based organization helping drug users and people living with HIV/AIDS, proposes an increase in spending on health treatment for drug users from 0.3 percent of the total antidrug budget to 10 percent by 2020. Dubbed 10 by 20, such a policy would be more effective in reducing drug abuse, the researchers believe. Ingrid Irawati Atmosukarto, a researcher with Intuisi Inc. and Rumah Cemara, said the government currently allocated only Rp 6.5 billion of the total “war on drugs” budget of Rp 1.9 trillion to health programs.

The United States has long pushed China to systemically control all fentanyl substances

The New York Times (US)Monday, December 3, 2018

China vows to stem the supply of the powerful opioid fentanyl flowing into the United States. It pledges to target exports of fentanyl-related substances bound for the United States that are prohibited there, while sharing information with American law-enforcement authorities. Such promises, echoed in the recent meeting between the countries’ presidents, ring familiar. Cracking down on the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl in China is no easy task. Many classes of the drug are already considered controlled substances in the country. Fentanyl’s chemical structure and those of related analogues can be modified to create similar yet distinct substances, so new versions can be concocted quickly.

He said that a country must put legislation in a sensible strategic frame as this country is now doing

Searchlight (St Vincent)Friday, November 30, 2018

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) cannot legalize marijuana for recreational purposes without facing sanctions internationally. And persons who say we can just "free up the weed" are opportunistic and misleading says Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. He explained that because of the nature of the international legal regime, this country could face sanctions if we do not approach the cannabis issue correctly. "We are a small country, we are not Canada or California," stressed the Prime Minister who noted also that "freeing up the weed" in SVG does not add significant income to persons selling it locally because the base is too small. "The international conventions to which we subscribe make an exception to do medical cannabis, not to do recreational."

Proposals to legalize opium production could still beat the cartels—but only if poppy farmers are part of the process

Foreign Policy (US)Friday, November 30, 2018

Former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, once a firm proponent of the war on drugs, urged contemporary lawmakers to “give the benefit of the doubt to those of us who have followed the wrong policy for so many years.” And Mexico’s incoming president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said in his victory speech that the drug war was a “failed crime and violence strategy.” Guerrero’s state legislature agrees. As an alternative to the policy of the last few years, lawmakers there have called on the national government to legalize the production of opium for pharmaceutical use. The State’s governor, Héctor Astudillo, has led the charge. López Obrador’s incoming interior minister, Olga Sánchez, seems to be on board, and the president-elect has said that he won’t rule it out.

Coalition parties confirm cannabis will be commercially distributed in Luxembourg

Luxembourg Times (Luxembourg)Thursday, November 29, 2018

Cannabis will be made legal for recreational use in Luxembourg, it has been confirmed. During a press conference held by the three coalition parties – Democratic Party (DP), Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) and The Greens (déi gréng) – political leaders said the drug will be legalised. It will also be commercially distributed, as was confirmed by deputy prime minister Etienne Schneider, speaking to Luxembourg Times. The parties said only residents will be able to buy the drug and penalties will be put in place for anyone distributing to minors or around schools. Furthermore, addiction prevention will be part of government policy. (See also: Cannabis legalisation needs to be applauded)

The country has managed to attract Canadian investors, who have found the climate and low labour costs ideal for expanding their businesses

BBC News (UK)Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Lesotho is aiming to make money from the booming medicinal marijuana industry, but the southern African nation already has an unheralded illicit trade in the drug for recreational use. The high altitude combined with fertile soils, untainted by pesticides, enables illicit growers to produce a high-quality crop. Last year, Lesotho became the first African country to legalise the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, spawning a new sector in a country which struggles to create employment opportunities. The government has granted international companies licences to grow, distribute and to export marijuana-based products, but the small-scale farmer cannot afford the infrastructure and licensing costs that the legal trade requires.

This website

UN Drug Control

In 2011 the 1961 UN Single Convention on drugs will be in place for 50 years. In 2012 the international drug control system will exist 100 years since the International Opium Convention was signed in 1912 in The Hague. Does it still serve its purpose or is a reform of the UN Drug Conventions needed? This site provides critical background.